Action Needed Now on Agglomeration: Mayor Danyluk

“All of the reconstituted cities feel the urgency to find a way to meet with Mr. Charest and look at options to improve its functioning,” she said. “If it continues as it is, it’s not only not going to be good for our reconstituted cities; it’s no good for the island of Montreal.”

Statistics made public last month showed that the main population growth was off-island, attracting many Montrealers. “That doesn’t bode well for the island of Montreal,” she argues. “We’re going to hit a point where we won’t be able to sustain our infrastructures and our tax burden.”

For over a year, suburban mayors have complained about an unfair shifting of local expenses to the island-wide body that isn’t a genuine deliberative body involving proper suburban participation. They have tried various tactics to force Quebec to make what they view as changes to make the island council to function better and more democratically (such as the current boycott of its meetings), but without much success.

Suburban mayors also tried meeting with Premier Charest before he called the election to get an idea of what changes he would bring to the Agglomeration. During the electoral campaign, the Liberals made no official commitments.

However, there were signs they were willing to make changes due to citizen pressure at candidate meetings. At a Beaconsfield meeting, West Island MNA Geoff Kelley made a list of Agglomeration faults and corrective measures and even Premier Charest, at a South Shore meeting, admitted they weren’t working and promised to take corrective measures.

“While there was never an official declaration that applied to all areas, Charest and his people had mentioned that [the Agglomeration structure] was a major problem,” Danyluk said.

A recent example of its problems was the Agglomeration’s approval of contributing $60 million to the Université de Montréal’s new billion-dollar campus in the Outremont marshalling yard. Few exact details were given on what that money is going for except for infrastructure, she explained. The main economic spin-offs will go to Quebec and the City of Montreal through the borough of Outremont and not TMR whose taxpayers are also contributing through substantial federal and provincial monies to the project.

In addition, the project will likely have a major impact on TMR’s arterial roads, stated local head engineer Catherine Hirou in a recent brief to Montreal’s Office de consultation publique.